We’ll include predictions on the ACC schools’ destinations from Jeffrey Fann of the ACC site All Sports Discussion. Let’s look at each Pac-12 and ACC school and consider the fallout of various scenarios. This gives them time to plot a media strategy and beef up the value of their football and basketball packages. The Pac-12 and ACC would both love stability and a general slowdown in realignment moves. If the Big 12 is going to get Arizona State, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah, it is more likely to happen quickly rather than slowly. As we wrote earlier in the week, the Big 12 is the conference that wants to strike quickly and raid the Pac-12 before its member schools can think twice about jumping ship. We’re not going to predict whether the merger happens, but it’s clear ESPN is making a move to try to prevent specific ACC schools - we’re thinking North Carolina, Duke, and Virginia in particular - from going to the Big Ten and the Fox umbrella.Įverything about this situation is fluid. They round out the remnant of the Pac-12 departing for the newly formed conference.Will a Pac-12 merger with the ACC happen? Conversations developed on Wednesday, with the new piece of the puzzle being that the ACC Network (an ESPN property) could televise games with Pac-12 teams to give the ACC Network more inventory and instantly increase the value of that network. However, their strong athletics history make them a strong expansion candidate in college sports. I recently excluded The University of California at Berkley from my expanded Big Ten Conference prediction. The other four schools give more in-state recruits reasons to stay home. By playing so frequently in Texas, the private school could increase its influence in recruiting within the state. For that reason, the Cougars are moved to a division of Texas teams. The rest of the group dates back to the Big Eight conference.īYU and Utah cannot seem to get along. With Cincinnati already set to join the conference, they make for a natural addition to a few of the original members of the Big 12 conference. Pittsburgh would give West Virginia a strong rival and give the conference a five-team East Division. Adding the top rivalry in college basketball only strengthens the conference’s basketball reputation. All five programs have dominated college basketball in recent memory. Here is a look at a third potential 20-team conference.ĭuke and North Carolina seem like obvious choices for a conference that already has Kansas, Arizona, Baylor, Houston, and Texas Tech. While it’s no secret the conference could not match the other two super conferences in football, the Big 12 could secure its future by becoming the top basketball conference.
With no teams between West Virginia and UCF and nationalization of other conferences, there is a clear opportunity for the Big 12 to expand eastward. Arizona State and Colorado have a relatively strong history in football, while Arizona and Utah have had their fair share of success in the past.Īs currently constructed, the Big 12 footprint has a void on the East Coast. The conference is still hotly pursuing four teams out West in Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. The Big 12 is well on its way to becoming the next super conference in college football.
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